Pink and Greys. A Harvest Ban On A Thursday.

In the mornings I like to wake up early and go for a walk before The Farmer heads off to work.  I don't manage this every day (because sometimes he heads out way too early, even for me and my complete inability to sleep past 6am) but I probably do 4 days a week.  Today I was out for my walk when I saw these galahs having a bit of a chat in a tree.  They very happily posed for me.

Pink and Greys In AWattle

Pink and grey galahs are everywhere at this time of year.  They eat the grain left over after harvest and along with the white cockatoos make a huge racket.

Today has been hot and blustery here.  A fire risk day.  I always feel a faint sense of unease on these days.  Like those overcast, still days at the beach where the water is oily and smooth - they are shark days to me.

Our Shire placed a harvest ban on early this morning.  For the non-farmers amongst you this means that no-one is allowed to drive any vehicle in a paddock including a ute.  It is officially called "a harvest and movement of vehicles in paddocks ban" - like I always say, we like literal labels in rural Australia!  This is to minimise the risk of a fire starting from a spark from any vehicle. We are notified of a harvest ban by an SMS service and half hourly announcements on ABC Radio. Sometimes it seems to take ages for the announcer to read out all of the Shires with bans on.  Today it sounded like the whole of wheatbelt WA was not harvesting.  Before the SMS service was widely used it was the job of many a farmer's wife (myself included) to listen to the ABC and then update everyone on the two-way.

A harvest ban is always taken incredibly seriously and all vehicles are pulled up the minute we are aware it has been put in place.  So today The Farm feels quiet, the two-way is silent and there is no activity anywhere.  In some ways it is a welcome chance to get other jobs done and give some of our staff a much needed rest. Bans are normally lifted by early evening if it cools down and the wind drops, so we will harvest again then.  Until today we have had our headers going around the clock.

I was listening to the ABC Radio today when I was picking Farmboy up from the school bus.  There is several fires in Western Australia today, one of which is an extremely large fire in the Margaret River region.  Scary.

So - what's the weather been like where you are today?  (Nothing like using an old chestnut of a conversation starter for bloggy interaction....!)